When the Sun Sleeps
by EmergencyShelter
Summary: “This is what you should be doing when the sun itself sleeps,” Don said to his sleeping brother


**Numb3rs  
**_When the Sun Sleeps_

**Summary: **This is what you should be doing when the sun itself sleeps.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim any ownership to the series **Numb3rs**, nor do I claim any ownership to the characters. These stories are merely for the enhancing of my writing to better ready myself for my Pre-AP English class.

Also, this is my first ever story on here, so I'm really nervous. If no one likes it, then I guess I'll just delete it. I just hope that it doesn't bore you or anything like that. Anyways, enjoy.

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Charlie Eppes, the youngest of the Eppes men, paused at the front door to his house. He knew that if he walked in, he would more than likely receive a nice long lecturing from his father, which his tired mind could not handle at the present moment. Not sure of what else to do, he reluctantly opened the door and stepped across the threshold into his house. 

Wearily, he looked around him and had yet to see his father. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't hear him come in.

Quickly and quietly he went to the staircase and as silently as he could, started walking up them in order to get to his safe haven; his room.

"Charles Eppes, don't think that you can escape to the safety of you room just yet!" he heard his father say angrily from the bottom of the steps. Wincing at the tone of his voice, Charlie slowly turned around, mentally preparing himself for what was to come.

"Hey dad," he said trying to hopefully lighten the mood. He had no such luck.

"Don't 'hey dad' me. Where in the world were you last night? You had me scared to death. I tried calling you all last night and never got an answer. You better be glad that I didn't call Don and tell him," Alan told his youngest son furiously.

"I'm sorry dad. I didn't mean to scare you…I was just extremely busy with something," Charlie replied.

"What were you so busy with that you couldn't even call your old man and tell him instead of having him up all night worrying?" He continued questioning. Charlie really wasn't in the mood for this, but knew it was the consequences for his actions. All he wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep.

"I was working on a project. I guess I just lost track of time. I'm sorry," he explained himself further. He heard his father let out a sigh.

"Charlie, for once can't you just let the numbers rest and start taking care of your body the way it should be taken care of? I bet you haven't even eaten since breakfast yesterday have you?" Alan asked exasperatingly while slowly massaging his temples.

"Um…no. I was just so wrapped up in my project that I guess I kind of um…forgot," Charlie tried to redeem himself. His father sighed.

"You better be glad that Donnie went to go get a pizza for dinner right before you got here, otherwise you wouldn't have anything to eat," his father said.

"A pizza? Are you sick dad?" Charlie asked amazed. His father rarely let him or Don get a pizza or anything like that for supper.

"Yes. Donnie insisted on it," Alan answered.

"Wow! I'll have to ask him what he did to make you say yes," the younger Eppes mused.

"Don't even try. I only said yes because I didn't feel like cooking," Alan smiled.

"Darn," Charlie said sadly. Suddenly, Don opened the door and walked in carrying the pizza.

"Pizza's here," Don said to his father and younger brother before he walked past them, making his way to the dining room. Alan and Charlie looked at each other and then followed Don.

"Hey Donnie. I haven't seen you in a few days," Charlie said, sitting down at the table as his father went to the kitchen to get plates them to eat on.

"Yeah, I guess we've just both been pretty busy," Don said, taking a good look at his brother. He immediately noticed that Charlie had dark bags under his eyes and even looked a little pale.

Before Don could question his little brother, Alan walked back into the dining room carrying the plates. He set them down on the table and waited for his sons to get their pizza first. Charlie was the first to get pizza followed by Don. Finally Alan got his pizza. All three sat there in silence eating their pizza.

Charlie was the first to finish. He got up from the table and went to the kitchen to put his plate in the sink. Afterwards, he went upstairs to take a quick shower, seeing as how he hadn't taken one in about two days. After his quick yet soothing shower, he went back downstairs to see what his father and brother were doing. When he got downstairs, he only saw Don sitting in the living room watching T.V.

"Where's dad?" he asked his brother from his spot on the recliner.

"Said he was tired, so he went to bed early," Don replied, not taking his eyes off of the T.V. Charlie walked over to the couch and laid down.

"He does too much sometimes," Charlie said absentmindedly.

"You're one to be talking," Don said to Charlie, now looking at him. He was finally getting his chance to talk to his little brother.

"I can handle the stress most of the time. He's a lot older, so he needs to take it easier than I do," Charlie explained.

"At least he knows his limits and knows how to take care of himself," Don said.

"Are you implying that I don't?" Charlie inquired, now glaring at his brother.

"That's exactly what I'm saying Charlie. One day your carelessness and forgetfulness will wind you up in the hospital seriously hurt. I don't want to see that happen to you Charlie," Don said with a caring voice. Charlie sighed. His brother was right.

"Okay, you win. I just can't help it sometimes. I just get so wrapped up in the numbers that I can't focus on anything else. It's like when you work on tough cases. You get so wrapped up in them to the point that nothing else matters," Charlie told Don.

"At least I stop and remember to eat and sleep," Don retorted. Charlie, yet again, sighed.

"I'll remember to take better care of my self in the future Don," Charlie said as he turned from Don to the T.V.

"You better," Don advised his little brother before turning back to the T.V. as well.

After a few minutes, Don looked back over at his brother, about to say something until he noticed his brother was asleep. He smiled at Charlie's sleeping form, then got up to put a blanket over him.

"This is what you should be doing when the sun itself sleeps," Don said to his sleeping brother as he turned the T.V. off and settled back down into the comfortable recliner again to catch some sleep himself, knowing in the back of his mind that in the morning his dad would be angry at him and his brother for sleeping in such improper places for the night.

Beendet

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(Beendet means finished in German) Thank you for taking the time to read this! I greatly appreciate it. This is my first Fanfiction that I have posted on here before. All kinds of reviews are accepted, whether they are nice, constructive criticism, or flames, I really don't care. Any help will be appreciated. I hope you liked my story and if you have any problems in it such as the plot or any kind of grammar misusage please tell me and I will fix it and try not to make the same mistake in my future stories. By the way, I stink at commas, so you'll probably find a lot of misused commas in this story and in a lot of other things. I hope you understood everything. In my mind it all made sense and I hope it did to ya'll too. Yet again, thank you very much for your time. 

EmergencyShelter  
October 21, 2006


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